The Quest for Alpha: The Holy Grail of Investing

The debate on active investing-stock picking and market
timing-versus passive investing-markets are highly efficient and
almost impossible to outperform-has raged for decades. Which side
is right? In The Quest for Alpha: The Holy Grail of
Investing, author Larry E. Swedroe puts an end to the debate,
proving once and for all that active investing is likely to prove
futile as the associated expenses-costs, fees, and time spent
analyzing individual stocks and the overall market-are likely to
exceed any benefits gained. The book

Explains why investors should focus on asset allocation, fund
construction, costs, tax efficiency, and the building of a globally
diversified portfolio that minimizes, if not eliminates, the taking
of idiosyncratic, uncompensated risks

Other titles by Swedroe: The Only Guide to Alternative
Investments You'll Ever Need and The Only Guide You'll Ever Need
for the Right Financial Plan

Investors are on a never-ending search for a money manager who
will deliver returns above the appropriate risk-adjusted benchmark,
aka the "Holy Grail of Investing." The Quest for Alpha
demonstrates that it's a loser's game-while it's possible to win,
it's so unlikely that you shouldn't try.

LARRY E. SWEDROE is a principal and the Director of Research for the Buckingham Family of Financial Services, which includes Buckingham Asset Management and BAM Advisor Services. He has also held executive-level positions at Prudential Home Mortgage, Citicorp, and CBS. Swedroe frequently speaks at financial conferences throughout the year and writes the blog "Wise Investing" at CBS MoneyWatch.com.

“As I noted recently, success in investing is somewhat
counterintuitive, and requires most investors to set aside their
pre-conceived notions of how to build a portfolio that will allow
them to reach their goals. The task is made all the harder because
the vast majority of the participants in the financial services
industry spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually reinforcing
the myth of active management. Fortunately for investors, experts
like Larry Swedroe are hard at work pointing out the fallacies of
those myths, while also detailing the undeniable logic and
mathematics that underpin a passive approach. The Quest for
Alpha is a wonderful addition to that effort, and investors
will be well-rewarded by reading it and acting upon its
wisdom.”
— Nathan Hale, moneywatch.com, March 2011

Permissions

To apply for permission please send your request to permissions@wiley.com with
specific details of your requirements. This should include, the Wiley title(s), and the specific portion of the content you wish to re-use
(e.g figure, table, text extract, chapter, page numbers etc), the way in which you wish to re-use it, the circulation/print run/number of people
who will have access to the content and whether this is for commercial or academic purposes. If this is a republication request please include details
of the new work in which the Wiley content will appear.